1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a machine for customizing a cosmetic product at the point of sale to a customer.
2. The Related Art
Not all cosmetic products are universally applicable. Consumers having dry, oily or normal skin may require treatment products especially formulated for their particular condition. Hair products including shampoos, conditioners, hair dyes and permanent wave solutions are all quite sensitive to individual characteristics of the treated hair. No generic formula fits all types. Even more complicated are color cosmetics. A rainbow of shades are necessary to meet public demand. Stores find it a significant problem to stock all possible variations of a particular color cosmetic.
Point of sale cosmetic dispensing machines have been disclosed in the literature and at least one commercially implemented.
EP 0 443 741 A1 (Revlon) discloses a formulation machine for preparing cosmetically functional products. The machine includes a plurality of containers for storing various cosmetic ingredients. An input mechanism is provided for entering into a computer specific criteria representative of a customer""s needs. A series of instruction sets are then sent from the computer in response to the specific input criteria to a dispensing mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,871,262 (Krauss et al.) describes an automatic cosmetic dispensing system for blending selected additives into a cosmetic base. A similar system is described in German Patent 41 10 299 C1 (Erdtmann), with the further element of a facial sensor.
Elizabeth Arden recently commercialized a point of sale system for customizing facial foundation products. The system involves a skin analyzer for reading skin properties, a programmable device receiving the reading and correlating same with a foundation formula, and a formulation machine. Components of the formula held in a series of reservoirs within the machine are dosed into a receiving bottle and blended therein. The system is in use as xe2x80x9cCustom Colorxe2x80x9d(trademark). It is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,622,692 (Rigg et al.).
xe2x80x9cCustom Colorxe2x80x9d(trademark) suffers from slow dosing speeds and relatively poor precision in the pumping of ingredient streams to form products in receiving vials. Particularly critical are color cosmetic products. Unless precision and clean dispensing occur, shades will not be reproducible.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for dispensing cosmetic ingredients to form cosmetic products customized at the point of sale in a speedier, more accurate manner.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for dispensing cosmetic ingredients to form color cosmetic products customized at the point of sale having highly accurate reproducible shades.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more readily apparent through consideration of the following summary, drawing and detailed description which follow.
An apparatus is described for customizing a cosmetic product at the point of sale to a customer, the apparatus including:
(i) a program for receiving external information on at least one of the customer""s skin properties and converting the information to a corresponding formula;
(ii) a formulation unit for preparing the corresponding formula including:
(a) a mechanism for receiving the corresponding formula as a set of operating instructions;
(b) a plurality of reservoirs each containing a different cosmetic chemical composition;
(c) a plurality of pumps, each pump communicating with one of the reservoirs and having a piston operating with reciprocating and rotating motion; and
(d) a mechanism for activating the plurality of pumps resulting in dosing to a common dosing chamber of certain of the cosmetic chemical compositions and in certain amounts as determined by the operating instructions.
Also described is a method for customizing a cosmetic product at point of sale to a customer, the method including:
(i) obtaining information on at least one of the customer""s skin properties;
(ii) transmitting the information to a program for conversion to a corresponding formula;
(iii) transferring the corresponding formula to a formulation unit for preparing the formula, the unit having a mechanism for converting the corresponding formula into a set of operating instructions, a plurality of reservoirs each containing a different cosmetic chemical composition and a plurality of pumps, each pump communicating with one of the reservoirs and having a piston operating with reciprocating and rotating motion;
(iv) activating the plurality of pumps based on the set of operating instructions to dose certain of the cosmetic chemical compositions in certain amounts as determined by the operating instructions; and
(v) receiving the dosed cosmetic chemical compositions in a receiving container.
Pumps suitable in the method and apparatus of this invention advantageously may employ rotating and reciprocating pistons and can operate in reverse to control suck-back. These features optimize droplet size formation at the exit nozzles of the system. Reverse operation of the pump allows purging of air bubbles trapped during reservoir changeovers. Elimination of air bubble pockets insures highly accurate dosing of the chemical compositions. Furthermore, cross contamination of one dose from a precedent dose is minimized by reverse operation drawing off excess precedent dose. Related known customizing apparatuses employ pumps with non-rotating pistons and any reverse mechanisms to allow suck-back are not incorporated within the pump mechanism itself. The prior art pumps are of the diaphragm variety with pull/push mechanisms. The pumps according to the present invention are advantageously displacement pumps which achieve much greater flow.
Another feature of this invention which improves dosing accuracy is use of differential diametered inlet conduits and outlet manifolds. A relatively narrow diameter outlet manifold is attached to the dispensing side of the pump. A larger diameter inlet conduit feeds the intake side. Cavitation is thereby considerably minimized. The smaller sized outlet manifold reduces the liquid speed necessary to cleanly eject the liquid chemical composition.
Still a further feature of the present invention is the use of collapsible containers, particularly pouches, as the reservoirs for the cosmetic chemical compositions. Often constituents of the compositions are air sensitive. These constituents can decompose or even more damaging can be contaminated by microbes. Collapsible containers avoid these problems because they need not be supplied with air vents. By the term collapsible is meant a wall of the container sufficiently flexible to move inward reducing internal volume of the container compensating for any dispensed volume.